Kingdom of Aragon

The Kingdom of Aragon was a medieval kingdom that existed in northern Spain from 1035 to 1706, corresponding to the autonomous community of Aragon. The kingdom was originally a feudal county of Charlemagne's Frankish Empire before becoming a vassal state of Navarre. The name means "good upper valley" in Basque, and Aragon became independent in 1035 when Sancho III of Pamplona's death divided his realm between his sons, with Ramiro I of Aragon becoming the first Aragonese ruler. Aragon was an expansionist kingdom, fighting against both its Muslim Moorish neighbors and its fellow Christian kingdoms such as Castile, and Alfonso I of Aragon's death in 1135 led to the permanent division of Aragon and Navarre. Aragon would be united in personal union with the other Christian kingdoms by 1492, and in 1706 it was formally united with them to form Spain.